


Books at Midnight

by strongfemalecharacter



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-22
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-09 04:27:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10403922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strongfemalecharacter/pseuds/strongfemalecharacter
Summary: College AU -Waverly regularly studies in the library late at night. Nicole decides to do the same one night so she can focus while she crams for a midterm. What she didn't expect to find was a reason to keep coming back.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I promise there will be more than one chapter, I just can't figure A03 out b/c I am an old person.

At 2:00am, It was a bad place to study. Her desk was made from shoddy IKEA-type material and the light from the lamp in her room was abrasive. It was chilly from the darn draft that her landlord, Shorty, didn’t find it to his taste to fix. This, Waverly decided, wouldn’t do.

Though most people pegged her for a morning person, Waverly was a night owl, through and through. She found the silence and solitude that came late at night time calming, so she always saved her most challenging or most interesting homework for the middle of the night, when she knew she could focus. So, after deciding that her desk at home wouldn’t cut it, Waverly packed a bag of books and walked to the library, thanking her lucky stars that Ghost River University kept their main library open twenty-four hours during the semester.

Waverly’s favorite spot to study was on the second floor, in the very back by a window. She found her favorite table, a hardwood thing with a single lamp that stood in between the stacks, and opened her books.

 She studied until soft morning light began to fill the room. _“I’m exhausted,”_ Waverly thought, _“but this isn’t so bad.”_

She packed her things and walked home as the sun rose.

 --

Nicole, with her elbows on her desk, rubbed the heels of her palms into her temples and stared down at the ridiculous equations before her. She loved physics, but damn if it didn’t chafe her every now and again. She looked at the clock. 1:00 am. It didn’t matter that it was cold and she lived a mile from campus at this point -she had an exam on Thursday and she needed to focus. She packed a bag of books, energy drinks and snacks, then rode her bike to the library.

She supposed it didn’t matter exactly where she sat down to study -only that she studied-but in a last-ditch attempt to procrastinate, Nicole meandered until she found her way to the second floor. She had walked all the way to the back when she decided it was time to just suck it up and get down to business. She was surprised to find someone else there that early in the morning -a short brunette girl with long hair, a sharp jawline and high cheek bones. _“This,”_ she thought _“might be a problem.”_ Nicole shook her head at herself and took a seat on the opposite end of the table and unpacked her bookbag. _“Not today, you useless gay.”_ She began to study.

\--

Waverly only looked up, slightly startled, when she heard the chair scoot out from beneath the table. She locked eyes for a moment with a tall ginger girl with deep brown eyes, who gave her a shy, dimpled smile. She returned the smile and quickly looked back to her books, but sighed inwardly. She enjoyed studying alone. The silence felt less private, less intimate, with someone else around. But she wondered at the eye contact, which set off little dance of butterflies in her stomach. Maybe she could make an exception for this stranger.

 --

“Good job, Haught.”

Nicole woke from a daydream to see her professor drop a packet face-down on her desk. Turning it over, she saw a single letter written in red marker: A.

Nicole felt a wide smile spread across her face. As it turns out, that late-night library study session had done her well. She decided to go back that night to get some homework done.

 --

The girl came again the next night. Then the next, and the next, and the next. Waverly realized she would just have to get used to her presence. It’s not like it would be a big deal -the girl was quiet as a church mouse anyway. By the end of the week Waverly had even grown a bit fond of her.

\--

Waverly loved the comfort of her bed. After a long night of studying hard, it was satisfying to come home to a bed of fresh cotton sheets and a thick comforter, knowing that she could allow herself to sleep in for her hard work. But this morning, after studying until six, the unrelenting ringing of her cellphone roused her from a deep sleep. Waverly moaned and pawed at her nightstand till she found her cellphone. When she finally found it she hit the ‘answer’ button, put the phone to her ear and moaned something vaguely akin to ‘hello’. She was surprised to hear Wynonna’s voice say ‘hey’ on the other end of the line.  

“Hey yourself, Wynonna -what are _you_ doing up before noon? Did someone die?”

“You shouldn’t make jokes like that, Waves.”

“Oh, I get it, you’re ornery because you’re up early and want to make me unhappy, too.”

“Waverly, just, please, not today.”

Waverly sat up in bed, finally getting the hint that something was amiss. “What’s wrong Wy?” There was silence on the line. “Wynonna?”

Wynonna hesitated. “It’s uncle Curtis. He’s gone.”

Waverly took a moment to process and stifle a sob. “I’ll be there tomorrow afternoon. Love you, Wy.”

“Love you too baby girl.” The line went dead.

Waverly looked at the clock. 10:00am. She could sleep some more. Maybe all day.

\--

At 5:00 Waverly was finally able to get out of bed, just in time to make her 6:00 class, and even get in some studying in afterwards. Maybe, she reasoned, hoped, she could take her mind off things _and_ be productive enough to make up for the classes she’d skipped. Drowning herself in work was at least a little better than sleeping and crying.

 --

“Here.”

Waverly looked up to see the ginger girl who had been sitting across from her for the past two weeks pour something steaming out of a thermos and into the thermos cap, then set it down in front of her. Coffee.

“You looked like you were nodding off, so I thought I would share. I’m Nicole.” She held out her hand. “Nicole Haught.”

Waverly smiled and shook her hand. “Thanks. I usually don’t get tired like this, but it’s be kind of a crazy day.”

Nicole only smiled for a moment, then seemed to catch herself. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

 “It’s Waverly Earp”

“Nice to meet you miss Earp.”

“I didn’t think anyone else liked to study this late.”

“Well, I didn’t, until I had to do some last-minute exam studying and came here. I ended up getting an A on that exam, so I thought that coming back couldn’t hurt. The place grew on me -something about the atmosphere. It’s… I don’t know, quiet, but something else, too.”

“Intimate.”

“Come again?”

“The word you’re looking for is intimate,” Waverly said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “if you don’t think it’s weird to call a study-spot intimate, that is.”

Nicole smiled without a hint of mockery. “I think it’s perfect.” Nicole looked down at her watch. “Wow, it’s nearly 2:00 already. I think it’s time for us to start getting intimate.”

“Um, excuse me?” Waverly gripped her books tighter, ready to pack up and split.

Nicole winced and pulled out the chair to sit down. “Yikes, that came out wrong. You know, because studying is intimate? And we have a lot of studying to do?” 

Waverly giggled at this. “Then yes, let’s get ‘intimate.’”

 --

Nicole looked out the window and noticed the sun was rising. She then looked over to Waverly, whose nose was, as she expected, still deep in one of her text books.

“Waverly?” Nicole said. She didn’t get her attention. She spoke louder. “Waverly!”

A little too loud. Waverly startled and Nicole was harshly “shushed” by an early-bird librarian who happened to be organizing the stacks. The girls looked at each other for a moment then burst into a fit of tired, quiet-as-humanly-possible giggles.

As the fit subsided Nicole looked at Waverly again. “I think we’ve studied enough for tonight,” she said pointing at the window, “because it’s tomorrow already.”

Waverly laughed again and nodded. They packed their things.

“I owe you one, for the coffee,” Waverly said as they made their way outside. Nicole stopped outside of the front entrance, and Waverly followed her lead.

“Well,” Nicole said, “How about you bring the coffee this time? How about tonight?”

Waverly felt a small lurch in her stomach and wondered exactly what that meant. She knew, at least, that she did want to see Nicole again. But this feeling was interrupted by a hot flash of guilt –she had almost completely forgotten that she was going home for uncle Curtis’s funeral that afternoon. “Nicole, I-” Waverly’s voice cracked, “I can’t tonight –I’m sorry. But I’ll see you soon.” She tucked her head down and quickly walked away, afraid that if she stayed she’d cry in front of her new friend.  


	2. Chapter 2

“I don’t know why we had to lose him.”

“There’s no ‘had-to’ baby girl. He’s just gone.”

Waverly and Wynona sat in front of the homestead, staring at the fire-pit they had set ablaze as their own private tribute to Uncle Curtis.

The funeral went as funerals go. When Waverly and Wynonna got home, both were physically and emotionally exhausted, but neither could sleep. It had been months since they’d seen each other, and it helped to be in each other’s presence, even if there was, mostly, only the crackle of the fire to fill the silence.

“I think I should come back home.”

Wynonna looked at Waverly. “I hope you’re pulling my leg Waverly.”

“I’m not. I feel terrible leaving you out here to look after the ranch on your own. It’s not fair.”

“Hey, I had my chance, Waverly. After Daddy and Willa died I fucked off to Europe and didn’t look back. I’m back here so you can have your chance. Take it.”

“It just feels like too much -to leave you a week after uncle Curtis dies, like nothing happened. I don’t know if I could live with myself.”

Wynonna took a swig of Jack Daniels. “You remember how excited uncle Curtis was to hear you got accepted into Ghost River? You told me he went to Shorty’s and told anyone who would listen -embarrassed the hell out of you, if I remember correctly.”

Waverly smiled sadly at the memory. “Yeah.”

“Well I think,” Wynonna said, “that if you dropped out of school to come back and look after some damn livestock with my misguided ass, uncle Curtis would do well by the name of this town and rise from the grave to personally kick your ass all the way back to school.”

Waverly broke into laughter. “Probably.”

Wynonna reached out and patted Waverly’s knee. “Definitely. C’mon Waves, it’s late. Let’s get some sleep.”

\--

The next morning Champ came by the homestead to see Waverly. Champ, being the gentleman that he is, kindly offered to ‘shut Waverly’s brain off for a while’ after half an hour of half-listening to Waverly talk about her research for her upcoming term paper. That, Waverly decided, was the end of that relationship.

\--

It had been a week since Nicole last saw Waverly.

Every night since their last meeting, Nicole had shown up to the library, in their spot, at 12 am sharp, only to find night after night that Waverly was missing. Nicole stayed and studied none the less -she hadn’t been lying when she told Waverly that this type of studying worked best for her- but she was beginning to worry about her friend. She recalled their last encounter: when Nicole asked her to come study with her again that night, looked as if she might cry, made a lame excuse and took off. Nicole couldn’t fathom that anything she said may have been offensive enough to bring on the water works, but then, she supposed, some people were especially sensitive. She wanted to know for certain, though, that Waverly was, on the whole, okay. She mentally kicked herself for not getting Waverly’s number -it might’ve been nice for Nicole to ask and for Waverly to be asked if things were peachy. But that would have to wait until she saw her again. If she saw her again.

A week and a day after the incident Nicole trudged up the steps to the second floor, ready to be disappointed. Her mood lifted, however, when she saw that a seat on the end of her and Waverly’s table was occupied by none other than Waverly Earp.

“Hey stranger.”

Waverly looked up from her book and gave Nicole a wide smile. “Hey yourself. Been awhile, Haught.”

Nicole set her backpack down on the table and began unpacking her things. “Where have you been for the past week? I’ve been worried about you.”

“Oh, you know, family things.”

“Family things?”

Waverly bit her lip. “My uncle Curtis died. And I broke up with my boyfriend. So.”

Nicole looked concerned. “So it’s been a long week. I’m so sorry Waverly.”

Waverly looked backed down at her books and was silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.

“I think,” Nicole ventured, “that maybe we should take the night off from studying. Let’s go do something else -say a movie night? I have Netflix and plenty of junk food back at my apartment.”

Waverly looked at her watch. It was already well past midnight, but it was Friday night and damn did she need a break from everything. “You know what? You’re on. Movie night it is.”

\--

Nicole and Waverly made their way back to Nicole’s apartment, talking all the while. When they finally arrived, Nicole hung her bike on a rack above the couch and flipped open a laptop that was sitting on the coffee table.

“So, what are you in the mood for?”

The girls deliberated and finally settled on a Disney movie. By the time it was over 3am had rolled around and Waverly was getting tired, and was about to leave when Nicole stopped her.

“It’s pretty late. Are you sure you’re okay to walk home alone?”

“Sure,” Waverly responded, “it’s never been a problem before.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything,” Nicole said. “Let me give you my number, just in case, and if you want you can call me when you get home -just to put my mind at ease.”

Waverly agreed, and pocketed the little strip of paper Nicole had just scrawled her number on. “I can do that. See you tomorrow?”

Nicole smiled. “See you tomorrow.”

\--

Waverly rented a room in a house near campus because it was the cheapest housing option. Normally she had nothing to complain about, but she knew before she even opened the front door that something that night had gone awry. Waverly took a deep breath, and with no small amount of trepidation, entered the building and found her way to her room. The first thing she noticed was that the door, which she always closed and locked behind her, was wide open. The next thing was that her room had been ransacked -her mattress was flipped over, the contents of her desk and closet lay scattered about the floor, and her favorite coffee mug had been shattered. Waverly was grateful she had decided to bring her laptop to school with her that day, because it was looking a lot like someone had robbed her place.

Waverly cussed under her breath and checked her watch. 3:31am. Her bedroom was officially a crime scene and it was far too late to call Wynonna to and go home. But, she reasoned, Nicole might still be awake.

\--

Nicole was just about to call it a night when her phone rang.

“Hey, Nicole? It’s Waverly.”

“Hey. So either you got home okay or something’s not right.”

“Um, both?”

“Both?”

Waverly sighed. “I got home okay, but when I got home my home wasn’t okay.”

“I’m not sure what that means either.”

Waverly hesitated, unwilling to worry Nicole. “I got robbed. And I can’t stay here tonight, because my room is literally a crime scene. Do you mind if I come back to stay the night?”

“You just can’t catch a break lately, can you? Of course you can stay over.”


End file.
